The present invention relates to an optical fiber unit for medical examination and treatment and arm device for the optical fiber. In particular, the invention relates to an optical fiber unit for medical examination and treatment which is able to cure or treat an affected part by a heating effect, etc. by irradiating infrared rays to the affected part, and an arm device for the optical fiber which is able to retain the optical fiber unit so as to easily operate the same.
Conventionally, this kind of optical fiber unit for medical examination and treatment was such that, like an optical fiber unit for medical examination and treatment disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 27172 of 1994, light including infrared rays emitted from a light source was guided through an optical fiber light guide, condensed by a light condensing lens group and irradiated onto an affected part.
Furthermore, a conventional arm device for optical fibers is formed so that the two arm parts thereof are formed of two or three joint parts, and when an optical fiber unit to which the arm device is attached is operated, the arm device flexes or turns, following the operation thereof, thereby causing the operation of the optical fiber unit to be improved.
Since the abovementioned optical fiber unit for medical examination and treatment was constructed so that infrared rays emitted from a light source were guided through a fiber light guide, condensed by a light condensing lens group and irradiated onto an affected part, a light condensing lens group was an indispensable factor due to its precision as an optical component. Such structure is disadvantageous in that the production cost was increased, and the assembling thereof was not made easy.
Furthermore, the conventional arm device for optical fibers have two arm parts of a fixed length. This caused further problems in that they were insufficiently flexible, did not adapt themselves to the operating environments, and an excessive load is applied to the joint parts due to gravity when the arm part was elongated in the horizontal direction, resulting in a posture that could not be kept constant.